Personnel management by Bernard Samyn, Waak

The mission of Waak, situated in Kuurne, West Flanders, is to offer suitable work to as many people with a work disability as possible. The non-profit association realises their mission in a way you would not normally expect. Words such as 'just in time and sequential supply', a 'production process certified by the ISO 9002 quality system' and 'PPM standards' are common practice. “PPM standards stands for parts per million which refers to the maximum allowed margin of error,” says Bernard Samyn, Head of Personnel Department. “The cables of car appliances have a PPM of 50 for example, which means that per one million, a maximum of fifty faulty cables may be supplied. Everybody involved with quality control will agree this is a very strict norm. This is only logical, as your product is used as the 'nervous system' of cars or lorries. As a result of a well thought-through approach, the complexity of the entire production process is reduced to a minimum and at the same time, increasingly secured where quality is concerned.”

Crucial choices

Waak was looking for the same quality and precision when in 2000 it was trying to fi nd a new supplier of time management systems. “We did our homework back then and had a look at what was available on the market” says Bernard Samyn looking back at that time. “The supplier of the then clocking-in machines sent a junior sales person who could not provide us with an answer to four out of five questions. Then, a Protime representative visited us, who we had come to know via the social secretariat SD Worx. He did have an eye for the crucial choices we had to make and eventually we purchased a Protime registration application in 1999 with a license for 1,500 employees, together with the salary application Blox.

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• Waak